Rick and R3D_Button were almost out of the meadowlands.
“Why did he say he is the game?” R3D_Button asked, not for the first time.
Rick ignored the question and pointed ahead to a cluster of players. “We gonna work together, or not?”
Now it was R3D_Button who ignored Rick’s question. “And how the hell does this have anything to do with your wife?”
Rick stopped and faced him. “I made a mistake, and now she’s in a horrible place.”
“A horrible place? What, the Western Republic?”
Rick let out a solitary chuckle. “Worse. She’s with her mother.”
Rick started to walk again, but R3D_Button grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. “You serious? You got that much riding on this?”
Rick nodded. “My whole future depends on getting first.”
“It’s that much money?”
Rick looked at him askance. “It ain’t money—well, it is, but it’s more solid than just a one-time thing.”
R3D_Button nodded slowly. “More?”
“Sponsorship,” Rick admitted.
R3D_Button wore a look of disbelief. “You had me there for a second, but come on—nobody gets a sponsorship offer in Rank Three.”
Rick frowned. “We both did really well in that qualifier. You didn’t get offers?”
“Oh, hell no. I’ve been at this for a year and a half, and I haven’t—”
“I’ve only been doing this two months.” Rick took a deep breath.
A look of realization dawned on the dark-haired player’s face. “Two months? You’re not shitting me?”
Rick shook his head. “My old trainer told me that’s sorta fast.”
R3D_Button nodded slowly. “You get sponsorship if you get first?”
“That’s what the company recruiter said. It’s all I got, really. I don’t even have an SR Array anymore. I’m accessing the game from a…” He suppressed a snarl. He couldn’t finish. Anger welled up within him.
R3D_Button gave him a curious look, but didn’t press it. An awkward silence filled the air before he said, “Fuck it. Okay. I’ll help. Put in a good word for me when you’re famous?”
Rick rolled his eyes. “I don’t know if famous is in the cards.”
The dark-haired player smiled. “Rank three in two months? Think you might be wrong there.”
Rick motioned toward the cluster ahead, where two players and three bots were fighting. There had been more of each when he’d first spotted them, but as he and R3D_Button had talked, the numbers had dwindled, as had the global player count.
The ground got dryer, and the color of the grass faded from green to brown before disappearing entirely. The sound of their feet against the path gave off a crunchier sound before it transitioned to sand.
One player in the pack noticed them, a tall dark-skinned man in gym attire, but the player pivoted his attention back to the even taller bot with whom he was engaged in a frenetic battle.
One of the bots went down, then another, turning the odds. The last bot went down as Rick and R3D_Button arrived on the scene.
The tall, dark-skinned man glanced at the other player, who returned that look with a questioning look of his own. In an instant, the snap judgment appeared made as they each squared up against Rick and R3D_Button. Standing side by side, they looked an odd couple. The tall, thin man contrasted against his provisional partner, who stood a great deal shorter, with thicker, stronger looking limbs. As with all players, though, appearance wasn’t guaranteed to match reality.
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“You want the tall one or the short one?” R3D_Button asked.
Rick checked to see if his stats were accurate.
Strength: 2+4 (Ga Style Permanent Bonus)
Speed: 2+4 (Ga Style Permanent Bonus)
Stamina: 2
Everything was back, including the solitary boost point he’d picked up and placed into stamina.
He sighed. “I’ll take the tall one.”
R3D_Button nodded. “I’ve got the fireplug.”
The shorter fighter rolled his eyes at the nickname. “You got the fire part right.”
Rick stepped closer, in line with his partner, though they each circled in opposite directions so the other two players couldn’t bum rush one of them from the jump and knock him or R3D_Button out early.
The tall player—he’d dubbed the player “Beanstalk”—struck first, jabbing twice against Rick’s block before dropping dramatically and kicking at Rick’s leg. Rick jumped over the man’s kick, then came down with a hard right along Beanstalk’s head. The other player blocked, but that left him open to Rick’s right knee. The strike landed directly on Beanstalk’s nose, but the player took the hit and rolled backward out of striking range, then got to his feet and threw out a leaping kick.
Rick deployed Twinder, getting beneath the man’s incoming legs and awkwardly uppercutting the player in the groin.
Beanstalk landed and began laughing uncontrollably, a clear sign Rick’s punch had truly hurt the player. Rick turned to pursue, hoping to get the man into a sleeper hold, but R3D_Button and Fireplug fight had gotten out of control, and they barreled into Rick, knocking him to the side. Locked in a mutual hold, they twisted and jerked without considering where they stepped. Unfortunately for Beanstalk, that meant Fireplug unwittingly stomped the man’s testicles again. Beanstalk was practically scream-laughing as the other two cleared the area.
Rick winced. There but by the grace of God go I. He stood and approached Beanstalk, who writhed along the ground like a confused snake as Rick got his arms around the man’s throat and choked him out. Mercy kill, really.
Victory!
Rick didn’t pay attention to the boxes, as he’d later split them with R3D_Button. Instead, he assessed the state of his partner’s brawl with Fireplug.
The two had gone to the ground. At first, R3D_Button had the advantage, but Fireplug got his legs jammed beneath R3D_Button’s pelvis and kicked the man away long enough to roll out of the hold.
Rick approached warily, and Fireplug cast a frantic glance at him as he got to his feet, but only for a moment, as R3D_Button engaged him again before the burly fighter could adjust to the addition of another fighter. When Rick dashed to the side in an attempt to get behind the fighter, it drew Fireplug’s attention again, this time fatally, as he missed a hard right from R3D_Button and went down in one punch.
There was no victory announcement, as R3D_Button had been the one who’d knocked Fireplug out, but the player count dropped.
R3D_Button panted as Rick drew close. Three boxes transformed into icons. He turned back to glance at what he’d gotten from his defeat of Beanstalk. Three more icons floated over the ground where the fighter had been.
All told, there were three blues, two oranges, and thankfully only one yellow.
Rick headed back to the icons that floated over Beanstalk as R3D_Button collected his.
Active Skill Acquired!
Knees!: Left-right punches followed by left-right knees. Great for short range.
Passive Skill Acquired!
Planted: First attempt by any opponent to throw you fails.
Cosmetic Item Acquired!
Tribal Neck Tattoo: Show them you mean it with a neck tattoo!
He looked across at R3D_Button, who had gathered the icons—a blue and two oranges—he’d won from killing Fireplug.
“What’d you get?”
R3D_Button held up his hand. “Hold up. Still finding out. Two boosts. Split those?”
Rick nodded. “Yeah.”
“How about you?”
“Two skills and a neck tattoo.” He approached R3D_Button and entered his menu, then dumped the skills and tattoo out where his partner could see them. In exchange, R3D_Button did the same.
Boost Points +1
Boost Points +1
Active Skill:
Limbo: Fall backward parallel to ground and deliver hard right kick.
“Hmm…” R3D_Button stroked his chin. “Knees is the only good one.”
Rick nodded. “You can have it and one of the other two if you wanna give me both boost points.”
R3D_Button raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Deal. I’ll take Knees and Planted. Don’t think I’m taking any of these with me when we rank, though.”
“Want the neck tattoo?” Rick asked.
The other player crinkled up his nose and shook his head.
Boost Points +2!
Active Skill Acquired!
Limbo: Fall backward parallel to ground and deliver hard right kick.
Rick placed one in strength and one in stamina.
Strength: 3+4 (Ga Style Permanent Bonus)
Speed: 2+4 (Ga Style Permanent Bonus)
Stamina: 3
Once they were each sorted, they left the meadows together. After a brief transition from lush grass to scrubby brown stuff, they were into more arid land. They were cresting a low, rocky rise through increasingly reddening terrain when all hell broke loose.